(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a type of pillow comprised of a cover and an air cell cushion. The cover is designed to collapse to produce a more comfortable pillow for the user.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Various attempts have been made over the years to create a pillow that provides the utmost comfort and therapeutic care for the user. These pillows have sought to reduce or correct neck and back discomfort for a person while they sleep. Many pillows in the art use a variety of contours, shapes, and materials to produce a comfortable positioning device for the person""s head. These contouring devices are designed to distribute the load of a person""s body while in the reposing position to reduce muscle strain and tension along the head, neck, and shoulders region of the body.
In the simplest design, the pillow is an easily deformable cushion, providing moderate support for the user""s head and neck. Generally, the cushion is made from materials such as foam, polyethylene chips, goose down, horse hair, or some other easily deformable material. However, the common characteristics of these pillows is that the pillows may be too soft and too easily deformable for some users. Often the user has to xe2x80x9cfluff upxe2x80x9d their pillow to build up its relative resiliency. Unfortunately, during the course of a night, this resiliency is decreased, causing the pillow to lose its support. It is at this time that the user may experience undue stress on certain parts of the body, resulting in general discomfort, which may transmit throughout the body. Pillow cases of the prior art were designed to cover and protect the pillow and did not provide any shape or support function.
Newer designs of pillow construction have employed resilient underlying base materials that enable the pillow to generally maintain its shape under load. In the past, pillows of this category have used common foam materials formed with successive crossing layers of grooves and risers to create softness yet support for the pillow. More recent designs use foam materials with a system of contours in the cushion to supply support for the user. In these pillows, the contours are designed to limit the amount of deformation while supplying support as the person""s head is cradled or supported in the pillow. Generally, these contours are formed in the natural shape of the person""s head, neck, and shoulder regions for supine positions so that an even distribution of pressure is applied to these areas of the body so as to reduce undue strain and other stresses along the musculature of the spine. Often these contoured designs also utilize a convoluted surface to selectively control the resiliency in an area of the pillow. However, as a person moves during sleep, the person""s body becomes misaligned with the pre-set contour of the pillow. This sometimes creates discomfort for the user. Additionally, the materials used as the base materials for these pillows must have sufficient structure to allow it to be formed in a contoured or convoluted shape. This structure is often not sufficiently breathable so as to permit the removal of moisture and heat from the person""s body as they sleep. Thus, for this reason also, the pillow sometimes results in discomfort of the individual.
What is needed to overcome the disadvantages of prior art pillows is a pillow that is sufficiently firm to provide support, but yet is resilient enough to properly cradle and conform to a person""s neck, head, and shoulders so as to prevent undue strain on these areas. Such a pillow would easily conform to the person""s body as the person moves and positions themselves differently on the pillow. Moreover, such a pillow would be low cost, made from hypoallergenic materials, and have a firmness that is selectively adjustable for the individual""s desired level of comfort.
In the past, it has been shown that an air mattress readily conforms to the shape of the part of the person""s body which it supports. Air cells also provide a sufficient amount of resiliency that can be selectively controlled by air pressure inside the cell. The present invention combines the advantages of the air cells with a new cover to provide a maximum amount of support and comfort for the user.
In the preferred embodiment, the pillow is comprised of an air cushion contained in a padded cover. The air cushion is comprised of a plurality of air cells. The air cells are interconnected to permit air to flow between the cells. The air cells can be connected to a pump to inflate the air cells and a device to vary the pressure within the air cells. In the preferred embodiment, the air cushion is designed with two sections of air cells that extended outwardly and opposite each other to provide the maximum amount of contouring and comfort for the user regardless of which side of the air cushion is being used.
The cover for the pillow is generally shaped as a box having top and bottom panels with four peripheral sides extending between the top and bottom panels. The top panel of the cover may be padded to provide a smooth, continuous surface over the air cells. Alternately, both the top and bottom panels may be padded so that the pillow may be flipped over without a discernible difference in the level of comfort regardless of which side of the pillow is in use. The side panels of the cover are unpadded to allow the sides to readily collapse upon application of a load to the top and bottom panels and to reduce the amount of material that could bunch-up underneath the neck of a user when their head is resting on the pillow. Alternately, the cover may also be constructed of a stretchable fabric that tightly conforms to the air cushion. The use of stretchable fabric prevents the side panels of the cover from excessively bunching up underneath the neck of a user when a load is applied to the top and bottom panels. Preferably, the cover is made from a fabric that is sufficiently breathable and carries heat and moisture away from the body of the user. In the preferred embodiment of the cover, the cover has an access opening through a side panel through which the air cushion is inserted and removed. Additionally, the cover is provided with a button hole to allow an inflation device for the air cushion to be directed from within the cover to outside the cover. The cover may also have pockets to contain the inflation device and to provide the user with ready access to the inflation device.
The air cell cushion preferably has separate zones that may be independently adjusted by the user to control the amount of firmness and resiliency in the pillow. One Inflation zone is formed adjacent the perimeter edge of the inflatable cushion. Each of the inflation zones is isolated from the others and each is connected to an inflation pressure adjustment mechanism. The arrangement permits the user to set the inflation pressure in each inflation zone when the inflatable cushion is inflated.
In one embodiment of the invention, the inflatable cushion includes a base sheet and a top sheet. The top sheet is molded in the form of a plurality of air cells that are secured to the base sheet and extend outwardly from the base sheet. The plurality of air cells are grouped to form a primary inflation zone adjacent the perimeter edge of the inflatable cushion and a secondary inflation zone from the remaining area of the inflatable cushion. The air cells of the primary inflation zone are interconnected to permit air flow between the air cells in the primary inflation zone. The air cells of the secondary inflation zone are interconnected to permit air flow between the air cells in the secondary inflation zone. The primary inflation zone is isolated from the secondary inflation zone and separately inflatable from the secondary inflation zone. Thus, the inflatable pad has a primary inflation zone with a resiliency that is adjustable and set independently of the resiliency of the secondary inflation zone when the cushion is inflated.
In another embodiment of the invention, the air pillow includes an inflatable cushion having first and second base sheets and first and second top sheets. The first and second base sheets are positioned side-by-side. The first and second top sheets are each molded in a form of a plurality of independent air cells that are secured to the respective first and second base sheets and extend outwardly in opposite directions from the first and second base sheets. The air cells are grouped into a plurality of sections with at least one section being formed along a perimeter edge of the inflatable cushion. Each of the sections is separated from the other sections in a manner to prevent communication between the sections. Thus, each section has an associated firmness that may be adjusted by the user as required to achieve the desired level of comfort.
The inflatable cushion may also be folded along a fold line to position portions of the base sheet in the side-by-side arrangement and to position the air cells of the primary inflation zone on the perimeter edge of the air cushion. The pair of base sheets may be held in the side-by-side arrangement by releasable fasteners.